Burner



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 L. T. WILCOX BURNER Filed 0G12. 4. 1929 0 0 D D 0 0 0 0n. 0 0 0 D .v9

ilu".

July 3, 1934..

. IIQVENTOR.

EW/6* 7.' W/vx ATTORNEY.

L. T. WILCOX july 3, 1934.

BURNER Filed 001'.. 4, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

.4f/'W5' 7." W/ZCX.

' ATTORNEY.

July 3, 1934. l.. T. wlLcox BURNER Filed Oct. 4. 1929 3 Sheets-Shea?l 3 B f al.' Y

A TTORN FY,

Patented July 3, 1.934

UNiTEDA STA-ras l BURNER Lewis T. Wilcox, Peekskill, N. Y., assignor to Wilcox Patents Corporation,l a

New York corporation of Application October 4, 1929, Serial No. 397,180

14 claims. (c1. 15p-42')- The invention relates to oil burners, the term oil herein being intended to comprehend any liquid fuel. More lparticularly the invention has ref- .erence to so-called automatic burners, that is, burners in which the oil is maintained at a predetermined level and the burner as a whole is raised and lowered with respect to the oil level to regulate and extinguish the iiame.4

The general object of the invention is to obviate several defects in automatic burners of the type in common use and at the same time to provide a construction which will be inexpensive to make and economical and efficient in use.

More specifically, an object is to provide against the continued creeping or seepage of the oil up into the vaporizer after the burner is raised and the burner extinguished, an occurrence which is characteristic of burners of this type heretofore in use and which results in a disagreeable odor and smoking when the burner is again `lighted until the oil thus accumulated has been burned off. Another object is to make provision for conveniently and reliably regulating the supply of oil to the burner land thus not only obviate the troubles that occasionally arise from an accidental variation in the level of the oil, but also afford means to control the size of the flame in every position in which the burner is ignited.

This object is attained in accordance with my invention by providing a controlling valve in the connection with the supply pipe, and in the preferred form this valve is automatically operated by the raising and lowering of the burner. The size of the passage may thus be automatically regulated in accordance with the position of the burner, and when the burner is raised to out position, the passage will be completely closed to prevent further seepage of the oil. Another object is to prevent the flame from being extinguished when it is turned down, that is, when the burner is in low position, and also, when the burner is in frequent but not continuous use to eliminate the delay in igniting the burner heretofore occasioned by the fact that it is necessary each time, to heat the vaporizer to a vaporizing temperature before the burner can be ignited after the ame has been extinguished for any substantial period.

For this purpose my invention contemplates a pilot light produced by a pilot wick associated with the main wick only at the ignition edge and extending preferably into a depression or well portion in the bottom of the vaporizer so that its lower end remains immersed in oil after the main wick has been raised above the level of the oil.

Laterally the pilot liiame will be very little wider than the pilot Wick but it serves to keep the vaporizer warm and insure prompt spreading of the llame along the entire wick whenthe burner is lowered. The pilot wick may be a section of the main wick itself which is disconnected therefrom except at the burning edge.

My invention also comprehends various details of construction and has other objects and advantages as will hereinafter more fully appear in connection with the description of a particular embodiment of the invention.

I shall now describe the illustrated embodiment of the invention and shall thereafter point out the invention in claims.

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section of a burner embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail in elevation ofthe indicator elements;

Fig. 3 is afront elevation of the burner and of a short length of the oil pipe to which it is attached, the operating parts being partially sectioned away;

Fig. 4 is an elevation partly in section of the lighting or kindler ring;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional detail of a portion of the parts shown in Fig. 4 taken on line Fig. 6 is a similar view of the same parts taken on line 6 6 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 'T is an elevation partly in section on line 7-7 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of a modied embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 9 is a front elevation of the same with the operating parts partly sectioned away;

Fig. 10 is a detail in plan of the Well construction of Figs. 8 and 9.

The construction shown in Figs. 1 to 'l inclusive has a valve in the feed line operated in conjunction with the raising and lowering of the burner.

The burner is shown as circular in form and the Vaporizer 1 is a sheet metal stamping conforming in general to the usual construction, with the burner tubes 2 and the drum 3 mounted thereon. 'Ihe kindler or lighting ring which constitutes .the wick element is as usual contained within progressively the area of wick material immersed in the oil as the burner is adjusted between the high ilam'e and low name positions.

At one point around its bottom edge the vaporizer 1 has a deeper section which I term a well. In the construction of Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive, this is a separate casting 6, but the well may be integral with the vaporizer. For example, the vaporizer may be of sheet metal and the well formed by stamping a. depression in the bottom of the vaporizer; or, the vaporizer may be cast and the well cast integrally therewith. The tube 7 is secured in any suitable way to the bottom of the well and forms part of the conduit connecting with the oil supply pipe.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 7, the well 6 will be brazed or otherwise secured to the bottom of the vaporizer, the bottom wall-of which is cut away at this point to provide communication between the interior of the vaporizer and the well. The Well opening is somewhat longer than it is wide and a passage 8 leads from the bottom of the well opening and communicates with the tube '7. In this passage 8 is formed a valve seat 8a. the valve member 9 of which is a screw threaded stem 10 which screws into a lateral boss on the well member 6. The operation of this valve will hereinafter be further described.

'I'he kindler ring has a pilot wicksection 11, the construction of which appears clearly in Fig. 4. 'I'he kindler ring is made discontinuous and this pilot section occupies the space between the separated edges of the kindler ring and is disconnected therewith except at its extreme upper end where it is made continuous with the main Wick element 4. The porous wick element of the pilot wick is lined internally and externally with thin corrugated sheet metal similar to the rings 5, which lining is stapled to the porous material. The top of these corrugated pieces are widened out so that they areof approximately T-shape, the ends of the heads being inserted underneath the adjacent edges of the rings 5 and being stapled thereto, as shown. Also the composite pilot wick member is stapled to the adjacent edges of the kindler ring near its bottom edge to afford braces for the otherwise unsupported bottom end of the pilot wick. Y

As shown, this pilot wick is longer than the height of the kindler ring and its bottom end which extends below the kindler ring is received in the well 6.

Means which presently will be described are provided to raise and lower the burner. The several positions of the burner are indicated in Fig. 7. Since the oil level is constant or substantially so, the burner in its several positions will cause the Wick to be immersed more or less in the oil. In its lowermost position of the burner the oil level will be at the line indicated by the word High and the indicator, as shown in Fig. 2, will be on the Word Light. In other Words, the name in this position of the burner will be highest.

In the next higher position for the burner, the level of the oil will be at the line designated Low in Fig. 7 and the indicator will be on the same indication.

In the next upper yposition of the burner the oil level will be at the line designated Pilot and the indicator will be on the similar indication. In this position the pilot wick alone is immersed in the oil and but a small pilot flame will be burning at the top of the pilot wick. T'he rest of the wick will not be ignited since its bottom is not immersed in the oil.

The uppermost position of the burner brings the oil level to the line designated Out and the indicator is on the similar indication. In this position, the pilot wick is out of the oil and the pilot flame is also extinguished.

The mechanism for raising and lowering the burner and for simultaneously operating the valve stem 10 will now be described.

The well 6 is braced as, for example, by the brace member 12 which is riveted at one end to a lug on the well, and at the other end to the perforated bottom of the vaporizer. The conduit section 'I telescopes within another conduit scction 12 which is tapped into the oil supply pipe 13, a suitable packing gland being employed to insure a tight connection at the slip joint between the two conduit sections. The angle brackets 14 and 15 are clamped on the oil supply pipe 13 by a U-clamp 16. The upright arms of the brackets 14 and 15 are spaced and serve as bearings for a rotative rod 17 which constitutes a rock shaft to actuate the operating members. A handle 18 is xed on the end of the shaft for manual operation. Immediately back of the handle 18 and concentric with the shaft 17 is an indicator disc 19 fixed on the upright arm of the bracket 15. The upper end of the handle 18 serves as a pointer cooperative with the designations on the disc 19 to indicate the position of the burner. There are on the indicator disc 19 the four designations fLight, Low, Pilot and Out, above referred to.

On the inner end of the shaft 17 is xed a cross arm 20, and to the opposite ends of the cross arm 20 are pivoted the two actuating links 21 and 22, the former for elevating and lowering the burner and the latter for operating the valve stem 10. The link 21 is pivoted at its upper end to a stud on the side of the well 6. The operation of the handle 18, therefore, serves to raise and lower the Well and hence the burner through the connection just described.

The outer end of the Valve stem 10 which protrudes beyond the packing gland is bifurcated and is externally screw threaded. A bell-shaped member 23 is slotted to fit over the bifurcated end of the valve stem and is fixed in place thereon by a nut 24'. The bell 23 serves as a crank disc for operating the valve stem. The bell portion of the disc encloses the valve boss and packing gland and its edge portion is flanged outwardly at right angles to the axis of the valve stem. This at peripheral portion of the crank disc has a series of closely spaced circumferential holes 24. The link 22 is pivotally connected by means of the stud 25 to the crank disc 23 at one of these holes 24, the series of holes making possible the exact adjustment required. The length of the stud 25 is suilicient to provide the necessary movement of the crank disc as it is fed in and out with the valve stem 10. The valve stem may have a quadruple thread to afford the necessary relative large axial movement of the stem in proportion to its angular movement. In this way the valve is opened and closed with the relative slight movement of the parts between the pilot and out positions. It will also^be noted that with this construction the degree of opening of the valve varies with the position of the burner and that the maximum supply of oil is provided in the high flame position of the burner. It will also be noted that the range of angular movement of the crank disc and hence of the valve stem is substantially double the movement of the link 22 since vthe valve itself is simultaneously moved up or down by the link 21 at the same time that the link 22 is operated in the opposite direction. The two lever arms ofthe cro/ss arm are so proportioned as to give the proper relative range of movement to effect the opening and closing of the valve. In the construction shown, the lever arm for the link 22 is slightly shorter than is the lever arm for the link 21. Therefore, when the shaft 1'7 is manually rocked, the valve stem 10 is moved vertically through a slightly greater range than is the stud and for this reason the resultant 'angular movement of the valve stem is slightly more than double that eifected by the movement of the stud 25 alone.

The upward and downward movement of the burner is limited by the horizontal arm of the bracket 14 which serves as a stop for the cross arm 20 at the limit of movement in each direction. The length of the tube section '7 may also be proportioned so that it will strike the bottom of the oil supply pipe 13 in the lowermost. position of the burner.

When the burner is in frequent but non-continuous use, the handle 18 will beturned to the pilot position which will leave a small pilot ame burning in the region of the pilot wick and this ilame will be suiiicient to prevent the kindler ring from cooling ofi to such a degree as to require any appreciable time to relight the burner. When it is desired to use the burner again, it is only necessary to turn the handle to the light position and the ame will almost immediately spread from theregion of the pilot wick around the entire kindler ring. This movement of the handle not only serves to lower the burner to bring the bottom edge of the wick substantially below the oil level but also serves to rotate the valve stem 10 to open the valve to its most open position. If only a low flame is desired the handle will be moved to the low positionA of the indicator and the burner will be correspondingly raised and the valve partially closed. Any danger of the fiame going out in` this position of the burner is eliminated by the presence of the pilot light, the continuance of which is assured by the extra length of the pilot wick. When the indicator handle is moved to the out position not only is the pilot wick raised above the oil level but the valve stem 10 is simultaneously moved to shut the valve and any seepage of oil is thereby prevented.

In some cases it may be unnecessary or undesirable to vary the oil supply with the different positions of the burner or to shut it oi entirely when the burner is turned to out position. In Figs. 8 and 9 a construction is shown in which the manipulation of the rock shaft 17 serves only to elevate and lower the burner. In this/case the cross arm 20a operates but the single link 21a, the upper end oi which is pivoted to a stud on the side of the well 6 and is held thereon by a washer. This washer ts upon a reduced part of the'stud, the end of which is riveted over the washer. In Fig. l0 is shown a detail of the well member 6- employed in the construction of Figs. 8 and 9. On the one side is the stud on which the lower end of the brace 12 is riveted. On the other side is the stud on which the link 21a pivots and which has the reduced extension for the lock washer. The studs are shown in their condition before being riveted over the members which they retain. It will be seen that the walls of the well are grooved at the top to receive and t the bottom edge of the vaporizer 1 to which it is brazed or otherwise secured; and that lthe bottom of the well has a round opening to receive the upper end of the conduit section '7.

It is obvious that the number of wells may be variously altered according to requirements and that other modications in the constructions illustrated and above particularly described which nevertheless come within the scope of. this invention as expressed in the appended claims will readily Suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. An oil burner comprising a wick element adapted to be raised and lowered with respect to the oil level and having a pilot section of greaterr length and extending farther down than the rest of the wick and connected to and being continuous with the rest of the wick at its top edge and otherwise disconnected from the rest of the wick along its vertical length.

2 An oil lburner comprising a wick element having a pilot section of greater length and extending farther down than, the rest of the wick and having connection with the rest of the wick at its top edge and otherwise disconnected from the rest of the'wick along its vertical length, a vaporizer shaped to contain the wick element and having a well section extending below the bottom of the rest of the vaporizer to accommodate the downward extension of Athe pilot section, and an oil supply conduit communicating with the well section.

. 3. An oil burner comprising a`wick element having a pilot section of greater lengthandY the rest of the wick along its vertical length.

a vaporizer shaped to contain the wick element and having a well section extending below the bottom of the rest of the vaporizer to accommodate the downward extension of the pilot section, an oil supply conduit communicating with the well section and means to raise and lower the vaporizer and contained wick element relative to the oil level.

4. An oil burner comprising a wick element having a pilot section of greater length and extending farther down than the rest of the wick and having connection with the rest of the wick at its top edge and otherwise disconnected from the rest of the wick along its vertical length, a vaporizer shaped to contain the wick element and having a well section extending below the bottom of the rest of the vaporizer to accommodate the downward extension of the pilot section, an oil supply conduit communicating with the well section, a valve in the oil supply conduit, means for raising and lowering the vaporizer and contained wick element relative to the oil level, and manu` ally operative means in joint control of the valve the raising and lowering means.

5. An oil burner comprising, in combination with an oil supply pipe, a vaporizer and a wick element contained therein, a conduit adjustably connecting the vaporizer and supply pipe to permit of raising and lowering of the vaporizer, a bracket secured to the supply pipe, a rockable arm pivoted intermediate its ends to the bracket, a link pivotally attached at one end to the vaporizer and at the other end to one end of the rockable arm, a valve in the conduit, and a second link pivotally connectedto the other end of the rockable arm and having operative connection with the valve.

6. An oil burner comprising, in combination with an oil supply pipe, a vaporizer and a wick element contained therein, a conduit connecting the vaporizer and supply pipe having a valve therein including an operating stem adapted to be screwed to open and close the valve and formed with a bifurcated outer end, a plate slotted to receve the said bifurcated end and means securing the same thereon, a bracket secured to the supply pipe, a manual crank member mounted on the bracket, and means connecting the crank to both the vaporizer and the said plate and operative upon rotation of the crank to raise and lower the vaporizer and to open and close the valve. y

7. An oil burner comprising a circular wick element the top edge of which is continuous and which has a short arcuate section discontinuous with the rest of the wick from just below the top Y edge downwardly and extending downwardly below the re'st of the wick, a vaporizer containing the wick element and having Va depending well section accommodating the lower end of said wick section, an oil pipe and an adjustable conduit connecting the oil pipe and said well section, a valve in said conduct, and manual means supported on the oil pipe and operative both to raise and lower the vaporizer and to open and close the valve.

8. An oil burner comprising a wick element, a vaporizer. containing the same, an oil supply pipe, a connection'between the supply pipe and vvaporizer capable of being lengthened and shortened to permit the vaporizer to be raised and lowered, operating means carried by the supply pipe and connected to the vaporizer to raise and lower the vaporizer, a valve in said connection operative by rotation to open and close, a crank on said valve, and means operatively connecting the crank to said operating means.

9. An oil burner comprising a wick element, a vaporizer containing the same, an oil supply pipe, a connection between the supply pipe and vaporizer capable of being lengthened and shortened to permit the vaporizer to be raised and lowered, operating means carried by the supply pipe and connected to the vaporizer to raise and lower the vaporizer, a valve in said connection operative by rotation to open and close, a crank on said valve, means operatively connecting the crank to said operating means, an indicator el ment fixed to the supply pipe, and a rotative handle for the operating means having a cooperative movable indicator element.

10. An oil burner comprising, in combination with an oil supply pipe, a wick element and vaporizer therefor, an adjustable connection between the supply pipe and vaporizer to permit the vaporizer to be raised and lowered, a. valve in the connection including a rotatable operating stem, a crank secured to the outer end of the stem, a bracket clamped to the supply pipe having two upright arms, a rockable shaft bearing in the arms and having a handle on its outer end, a cross arm fixed on the inner end of the shaft, and a link pivoted to each end of the cross arm, one link being connected to the vaporizer and the other to the crank on the valve stem.

11. An oil burner comprising, in combination with an oil supply pipe, a wick element and vaporizer therefor, two telescopic conduit sections forming a connection between the supply pipe and vaporizer, the upper section being secured to the vaporizer, and the lower to the supply pipe, a valve in the upper conduit section including an operating stem screw threaded into the section, an operating crank on said stem, a rockable arm carried by the supply pipe, and two links pivotally attached vto the opposite ends of the rockable arm, one link being connected to the upper conduit section andthe other link to the operating crank for the valve stem.

l2. An oil burner comprising a wick elementl 'adapted to be raised and lowered with respect to the oil level and having a pilot section connected to and continuous with the rest of the wick at its top edge and otherwise disconnected from the rest of the wick along its vertical length, and an oil compartment enclosing the lower end of the pilot section of the wick.

13. A wick element for an oil burner including a pilot section connected to and continuous with the rest of the wick at its top edge and otherwise disconnected from the rest of the wick along its vertical length.

14. A wick element for an oil burner including a pilot section of greater length than the rest of the wick and connected to and continuous with the rest of the wick at its top edge and otherwise disconnected from the rest of the wick along its vertical length.

LEWIS T. WILCOX. 

